UMass women's rugby finishes historic season
The UMass Dartmouth Women's Rugby team just closed its most successful season in history and left its mark on the school's history.
The team came in fourth place in the Women’s Small College National Rugby Championship, which was held in Charlotte, North Carolina on Dec. 5 and 6. They lost their game against Lee University, 41-17. Michigan State University went on to win the championship, defeating Colgate University, 44-22.
"It was hard to lose after having such a successful season up to then, but knowing we were standing at Nationals in North Carolina was amazing and made the losses a little easier," said sophomore Mollie Madigan.
Though they didn't win Nationals, nothing can erase the enormous strides the players made this season. According to team advisor Captain Tim Sheehan, they made school history by going undefeated for their entire regular season of eight games when, just the year before, they won only one game.
The team went on to win both of their matches at the National Small College Rugby Organization Women’s Regionals at Colby-Sawyer College in New London, New Hampshire. They finished out their season ranking at fourth nationally in Division 3 club rugby.
"Yes losing was hard, but realizing how far we had come was amazing," Madigan said. "I couldn't be happier with all our accomplishments and our history-making season."
This season was especially bittersweet for senior Cali Manzello.
"Our first loss of the season was heartbreaking. I never expected it to go or feel like that, maybe it hit me harder since it's my senior season," Manzello said. "We played as a team and had a great time... I could not be prouder of the dedication our team had that day."
The women’s rugby team was founded in 2005 and remained a self-run club sport until Victoria Thomas, who graduated from UMass in 2014, returned last year to pick up the mantle as the team’s first ever head coach.
This marked a turning point in the way the team operated. In just one season, they transformed from a team that had won only one game to national contenders.
